This is very exciting news for us here at Wicked Edge. A lot of people have worked long and hard to bring this idea into reality. Many thanks to all involoved in making it happen. Please visit the awards page on the National Restaurant Association’s webpage here: KI Awards. The product chosen for the award is our new Professional Series Sharpener:

We’re very proud to announce that our entry in this year’s Blade Show and International Cutlery Fair was voted Accessory of the Year! We entered the prototype of our new Pro-Pack II sharpener. It’s built on the same platform as the Gen II sharpener, so anyone wishing to upgrade an existing system will be able to. Some of the exciting new features are:

New Ball Joints

Micro Angle Adjustments of +/- .05 Degrees

Vise Jaw Riser allowing for angles as low as 13 degrees (and lower depending on the width of the knife)

Great news! The diamond stones arrived (albeit a week late after a freight company mix up in Los Angeles) and the Wicked Edge Precision Sharpener – Basic Kits and Pro Pack I’s are in stock and shipping.

As we come out of a large back order due to high demand please expect 1-2 weeks to receive your tracking number.

If you need further assistance please email us at info@wickededgeusa.com or call toll free Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM, MDT at 877-616-9911.

We received confirmation today that the diamond stones needed to complete Sharpener Basic Kits and Pro Pack I’s are loaded and trucking from Los Angeles to Santa Fe. They should arrive right after Memorial Day, May 28th. We wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend and look forward to shipping orders as soon as possible.

A lightning storm took out our phone lines over the weekend and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Everything is back on line and working smoothly. Please give us a call Monday – Friday 9AM-5PM, Mountain Daylight Time. You can also email us at info@wickededgeusa.com. Thanks – Wicked Edge

Some Wicked Edge stones are thicker than others, particularly the Naniwa-Chosera Waterstones. To ensure the shape of your bevels stay consistent, and angle adjustment must be made when switching to these stones.

The Variable Stone Thickness Adapter is a guide that holds the place of your angle, and lets you repeat your angle when switching between stones of different thicknesses.

Helpful tip: To achieve perfect results with the Variable Stone Thickness Adapter your sharpener should have micro adjustment capabilities. If you have a model without this capability it is OK, you will just need to remove your Base Rod and turn it around so the detents are facing away from you.

Step 1 – Place the Adapter on the Base Rod

Remove the Guide Rods from the Base Rod (degree bar). Slide the Variable Stone Thickness Adapters onto both sides of the Base Rod so the are facing up and away from you. (Note: there is a flat side and an indented side to each adapter. The flat side goes towards the Vise Jaw.)

Once you have found your angle, slide the Variable Stone Thickness Adapter over until it is flush with your stone. Then, while holding the stone flush against the adapter with one hand, firmly tighten the Adapter to the Base Rod by using the Vise Key with your other hand. Repeat on the opposite side. (Important: From this point forward the Variable Stone Thickness Adapters should not move at any time during the sharpening session. They are now set as the guide for your other stones.

Step 4 – Using the adapter as a guide

When you are ready to switch to a stone with a different thickness, slide the stone onto the Guide Rod and loosen the collar that holds your angle in place. (Notice that when you place the stones with a different thickness against the adapter, there is a gap.) While holding the stone against the adapter, adjust your angle setting until there is no longer a gap and the stone is flush against the adapter. You can do this by using the main angle adjustment on the degree bar, or with your micro adjustment. Then, while holding the stone flush against the adapter, re-tighten you angle adjustment so it is set in place. Repeat with the stone on the other side of the sharpener.

Step 5 – Progress through all of your stones

Feel free to progress through all of your stones. You will want to check each stone against the adapter to see if an angle adjustment needs to be made.

Step 6 – Stropping

When you progress to leather strops, it is important to clean off all of the water, stone slurry, or any other particles from the adapters prior to touching the strops to the adapters.Doing this will prevent damaging or contaminating the strops. When you use the leather strops, set your angle 1-2 degrees more acute than your original sharpening angle. This is important because the leather is pliable, and if left at the same sharpening angle as your stones, it can roll over and dull your edge. You can reset your sharpening angle without moving the adapters.

It’s almost Spring! We’ve had it easy compared to Boston and Buffalo but we here are all pretty eager for it to start warming up after a very long winter. It means more time to spend outside and more shows to attend.

We’ve had a busy February. The Pacific Northwest Sportsman’s Show was a blast. Kyle and Red had a great time demonstrating the sharpener and meeting fellow enthusiasts up in Knife Country. It was such a success we came very close to selling out of sharpeners. Thanks for a great show, Portland!

Read on for information on our next show and some very exciting news about the future of Wicked Edge.

East Coast Custom Knife Show 2015

We’ve got another show coming up very soon, this time on the East Coast. As always, we will be demonstrating at the East Coast Custom Knife Show this March 13-15 at the Westin in Jersey City. Clay will be there showing off a prototype of the new Gen 3. Unfortunately we still don’t have an ETA on the Gen 3 production schedule and pricing, but if you’re in the area you can come down and take a look first hand.

Kickstarter and Our New Blog

We’re developing new products all the time here at Wicked Edge, and one of our biggest goals has been and continues to be making our technology more accessible to more people. The Wicked Edge is a premium product but we want everyone to be able to have one of our sharpeners.

For our new sharpener model, which is top secret for now, we’ve decided to create a Wicked Edge Kickstarter so that we can work directly with our customers to create the best product possible without having to resort to outside capital. Over the next year we will be rethinking and redesigning a number of our sharpeners to be more efficient and more affordable while maintaining the high standard of quality we know our customers expect from us.

What we like about Kickstarter is that it keeps control in the hands of the innovators rather than investors. Historically, inventors have been limited by lack of connections and access to funding, regardless of how ground-breaking their ideas might be. Thanks to organizations like Kickstarter, production is now in the hands of the people and is ultimately benefiting everyone, from the inventors themselves to customers and the economy as a whole.

We want to put affordability, quality, and ethical production at the forefront of Wicked Edge rather than squeeze them in around Return of Investment. Crowdsourcing allows entrepreneurs to focus on value and innovation rather than keeping investors happy by cutting costs wherever they can. We also want to stay connected to our customers, as they are the ones who have gotten us where we are today.

We will be launching our Kickstarter as well as our brand new products this summer. As we get closer to the launch date, we will be updating our new blog,Adventures in Knife Sharpening, with all the most current news on new products and the progress of the Kickstarter project. We can’t wait to hear your feedback!

Another SHOT Show has come and gone and this latest one was our best yet! We had much better placement than in previous years, right next to the food court, and we also had a 10×20 ft booth instead of our usual 10×10 ft. The whole time we were there we were sharpening away and met a lot of great new people. We drummed up a lot of interest for the Gen 3 sharpener and we signed several new dealers! Be sure to check out the Dealer page in the coming weeks to see if a Wicked Edge dealer will be setting up near you.

SHOT Show 2015 Gallery

We are very excited to be attending the Pacific Northwest Sportmen’s Show this February! This is the first show we’ve done in Portland in several years, so we’re very pleased to finally be back, expanding our horizons and meeting new people. As this is a retail show, we will have products available for purchase alongside our usual demonstrations and free knife sharpening.

The show will take place February 4-8 at the Portland Expo Center in Portland, Oregon. We will be located at Booth 1055 in Hall E, 3 aisles up from the Casting Pool.